


rewind

by mxntparnasse



Series: reincarnation!au [1]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Angst, Fluff, It's gay tho, Jehan's death in depth, M/M, Nightmares, im sorry y'all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2016-06-03
Packaged: 2018-07-12 01:14:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7078465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mxntparnasse/pseuds/mxntparnasse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>canon era - today</p>
            </blockquote>





	rewind

"Long live France! Long live the future!"  
Montparnasse recognized Jehan's voice, would recognize it before the long-forgotten sound of his own mother's. There was a volley of shots, and a pained cry.  
"No!" Montparnasse cried, trying desperately to run to him. Two pairs of arms closed around his own, a third winding around his torso and holding him immobile.  
"Stop it!" Claquesous hissed in his ear. "You want to get shot too?"  
"Stop, stop, let go of me, I'll kill you all!"  
They knew he didn't- couldn't- mean it. His voice was tear-choked and he was struggling weakly against them. Every movement felt like agony- how could he still be alive when his love was dead?  
They only let him go after the firing stopped. Montparnasse flew to where the voice had come from, praying that somehow Prouvaire was alive.  
His copper braid was blood-stained, but his face was as peaceful as if he'd simply gone to sleep.  
"Jean? Jehan? Wake up, love," he called gently, a sick parody of the way he'd woken him up just that morning, with soft kisses and smiles and promises of no, no, I'll be home in time for dinner. He pressed a careful kiss to his forehead. The feeling of cold, clammy skin under his lips was what sent Montparnasse hurtling over the edge of sanity. He only managed to crawl a little ways away, to the gutter running red with blood, before vomiting. The hands on his hair weren't real, but it couldn't stop him from leaning into the gentle touch and choking out Prouvaire's name.  
"Please. Please, please, Jehan!" 

When Montparnasse looked up, he was lying back in the painfully comfortable double bed, Jehan lying beside him and staring at him.  
"It looked like you were having a nightmare," he said softly. "I have to go soon, but I just wanted to make sure you were okay."  
"I- I'm fine. Can I-"  
"Of course you can, my love." Jehan pulled him close, kissing his forehead. "Never be afraid to ask for me to hug you."  
"Please don't go."  
"I have to, dearest. This will be good. For the good of-"  
"What about the good of me? Of you? Jehan, please don't leave me."  
"I won't leave you. We have rifles as good as theirs, thanks to you."  
"Have I sent you to your death?"  
"No. You saved us. We'd end up dead without good weapons, but we will make it now."  
Montparnasse let out a sob and looked up, trying to memorize every detail of Jehan's face, his voice, before he was gone.  
"Promise me."  
"I promise you. I promise- you know? I'll be home for dinner. I'll come back with the world a better place and I'll be home for dinner."  
"Please don't."  
"I love you, okay? We meet at dawn. I need to leave, my darling."  
"I love you too. I- please. Please. You're the light of my life, this is all I have."  
"And you won't lose me."  
Jehan's cheery facade fell. "Really. If something does happen, I will be with you from the grave. I'll love you forever."  
"You as well. I'll love you now and forever."  
He kissed Montparnasse carefully, desperately, and slid out the door like he'd never even existed. 

Montparnasse woke up screaming, tears already running down his cheeks. He reached out across the bed, scrabbling for a body he knew wouldn't be there. He'd been just seventeen when Prouvaire sentenced himself to death. It had been three years, but the nightmares hadn't gotten any better. The memories of their happy times, of evenings spent with flowers in hand walking the banks of the river, had faded but finding Prouvaire's bloody body, watching his sparsely-attended funeral from far enough away that none of the few attendees- Eponine's boy, a blond woman, a person he knew to be Prouvaire's older brother and the last living member of his family- would recognize him, crying over the tombstone that tried to sum up such a man in a few words, those memories had only intensified.  
Montparnasse laid back down on the pillow, fingernails digging into his arms hard enough to break skin, and cried until he drifted into an exhausted sleep. 

-

Montparnasse was twitching against the sheets, face marred with fear. Jehan sighed softly. This happened every few nights. They'd both have terrible nightmares, though Jehan suspected Montparnasse's were much worse than their own. It was bad enough that Jehan couldn't wake him from them, only wait until he woke up on his own. They seemed to get worse and worse each time, leaving him shaking and pale for hours afterwards on bad nights. They pulled him into their arms anyways, kissing his cheeks and hair and forehead until he started awake.  
He let out a soft, unhappy noise and looked up at them.  
"You're here," he breathed.  
"Of course I'm here. I've always been right here, don't worry."  
He smiled shakily and tucked his head back into their shoulder.  
"It's okay, 'Parnasse. We're back together, and it's all okay."


End file.
